Apparatus for treating textile materials with a treating liquid

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is provided for treating textile material with a treating liquid and comprises a tank containing a treating liquid and means for circulating the textile material through the tank. The tank is provided with a plurality of treating passages each comprising an accumulating zone and a transfer zone. The transfer zone has an inclined bottom portion inclined from 15 to 45 degrees with respect to a horizontal plane and ejecting means are provided for ejecting the treating liquid into the transfer zone in such a manner that the textile material is opened while in a substantially relaxed condition as it flows through the transfer zone thereby eliminating wrinkles formed in the textile material.

United States Patent Inventor Masahiro Arashi Komatsu-shi, Japan Appl. No. 3,461

Filed Jan. 16, 1970 Patented Aug. 17, 1971 Assignee Komatsu Seiren Co., Ltd.

Komatsu-uhl, Japan APPARATUS FOR TREATING TEXTILE MATERIALS WITH A TREATING LIQUID 12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

68/177 Int. Cl B05c 3/02, D06f 17/02 Field of Search 68/176, 177, 178, 62

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l/1962 Mann et al..

3,497,311 2/1970 Masuda 68/177 3,501,931 3/1970 Barriquand 68/177 3,510,251 5/1970 Fujii et al 68/177 3,511,068 5/1970 Fujii 1. 68/177 Primary ExaminerWilliam 1. Price AltomeysRobert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato ABSTRACT: An apparatus is provided for treating textile material with a treating liquid and comprises a tank containing a treating liquid and means for circulating the textile material through the tank. The tank is provided with a plurality of treating passages each comprising an accumulating zone and transfer zone. The transfer zone has an inclined bottom por tion inclined from 15 to 45 degrees with respect to a horizontal plane and ejecting means are provided for ejecting the treating liquid into the transfer zone in such a manner that the textile material is opened while in a substantially relaxed condition as it flows through the transfer zone thereby eliminating wrinkles formed in the textile material.

PATENTEDAUBIHSZI 3,599,447

sum 2 or 3 PATENTED we] 7 I97| 35990447 saw 3 or 3 APPARATUS FOR TREATING TEXTILE MATERIALS WITH A TREATING LIQUID The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating materials which is formed into an endless rope form with a treating liquid, and more particularly, to an apparatus for treating endless rope-formed textile material with a treating liquid through which the material can be circulated smoothly without any fixation of undesirable wrinkles on the material and without any application of undesirable tension.

A wind dyeing machine" is a well-known practical dyeing machine in which a textile material, such as woven fabrics, knitting and nets, formed into an endless rope-form by connecting both ends of the material with each other is charged into a treating bath containing a treating liquid, the charged material is drawn up from the treating bath by a winch roll disposed above the normal level of treating liquid in the bath and then the drawn-up material is charged into the bath.

The winch dyeing machine is utilized for treating wool woven fabrics, silk woven fabrics andother knittings under atmospheric pressure. Recently, synthetic fibers which are 7 treated under a temperature higher than 100 C., such as polyethylene terephthalate fiber, were developed. In order to effectively treat such fibers, various type of high temperature-high pressure winch dyeing machines were provided. Further, various tensionless type winch dyeing machines were developed in order to treat, in a low-tensile condition, textile materialshaving a high plasticity at a high temperature, such as acrylic fiber and cellulose acetate fiber, elastic material such as spundex and rubber yarn products, textured yarn products made up of stretch yarn and bulked yarn. However, the conventional winch dyeing machine has a tendency of forming the textile material into a rope-form during treating of the material. Such a tendency causes fixing of undesirable wrinkles on the material and unevenness for treating the material. Also, in the operation of the winch dyeing machine, it is necessaryto draw the material under a certain tensile condition in order to circulate the material and to eliminate the wrinkles on the rope-formed material. The tension applied onto the material results in undesirable deformation, an undesirable hand-feeling quality and a low dimensional stability of the material.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatusfor treating textile materials with a treating liquid without fixing wrinkles on the rope-formed material and which uniformly and evenly treats the material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for treating textile material with a treating liquid under a tensile condition being as low as possible in order to avoid deforming and lowering the dimensional stability and creation of undesirable hand feeling of the material.

The apparatus of the present invention comprises the following components:

1. a tank for containing a treating liquid,

2. at least one rotatable circulating roll for circulating the textile. material disposed above a normal level of the treating liquid in the tank,

. at least one passage for treating the textile material being disposed in the tank and comprising (a) an accumulating zone for accumulating the textile material having a stomach-shaped cross-sectional profile, a bottom of which has numerous apertures for fluidly connecting the accumulating zone to the tank, and an exit end of which faces a front side surface of the circulating roll, and (b) transfer zone for transferring the textile material-from the circulating roll to the accumulating zone having an inclined trough, an upper end of which faces a back side surface of the circulating roll and the lower end of which is connected to an entrance end of the accumulating zone.

4. at least one first means for ejecting the treating liquid along a bottom surface of the trough and being disposed at an upper end of the trough,

5. at least one second means for ejecting the treating liquid toward the trough and being disposed above the trough, and

6. at least one means for circulating the treating liquid from tank to the first and second ejecting means.

During operation of the apparatus of the present invention, the treating liquid is fed from the first ejecting means and flows downwardly into the accumulating zone along the trough bottom, and the textile material is simultaneously supplied from the exit end of the accumulating zone onto the trough by the circulating roll and is transferred downwards into the entrance of the accumulating zone by the downward stream of the treating liquid floating therein. While the textile material is flowed along the trough while floating in the treating liquid, the textile material is opened under a relaxed condition in order to eliminate the wrinkles on the rope-formed material. The treating liquid fed from the second ejecting means toward the trough bottom bombards the upper surface of the textile material on the trough bottom. The bombarding of the treating liquid is effective for uniformly treating the material and promoting the opening effect for the material. The textile material supplied into the accumulating zone is uniformly treated with the treating liquid while moving from the entrance end to the exit end. As indicated above, the textile material can be smoothly circulated by the circulating roll and the treating liquid stream in the inclined through and eliminate the wrinkles on the rope-formed material by an opening action of the stream in the trough and thus, uniformly treated with the treating liquid.

The features and advantages of the invention may be understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective front view of an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view showing an embodiment of the transferring zone of the apparatus of the present invention, and

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective front view of an another embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a cylindrical tank 1 having a substantially round cross section which is horizontally disposed, within the tank are mounted three circulating rolls 2 for circulating the material and three treating passages or compartments 3 for treating and circulating the material The three circulating rolls 2 are arranged in a series order on a rotatable shaft 4 which is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow 5 in FIG. 2 by a driving means comprising a driving motor (not shown) disposed outside the tank 1. Each treating passage 3 comprises a transferring zone 6 and an accumulating zone 10. The transferring zone 6 has a bottom portion forming a trough 7 and an upper end portion 8 opening and facing a back side surface of the circulating roll 2. Therefore, the material 32 supplied by the circulating roll 2 is received on the trough 7 through the upper end opening 8. The lower end 9 of the transferring zone 6 is connected to the entrance end 11a of the accumulating zone 10.

The accumulating zone 10 has a stomach-shaped cross-sectional profile as indicated in FIG. 2. The exit-end 11b of the accumulating zone 10 opens facing the front side surface of the circulating roll 2 and the bottom 12 of the accumulating zone 10 is provided with numerous apertures 13 for fluidally connecting the accumulating zone 10 to the tank 1.

A first ejecting means 14 is disposed. at the upper end of a trough 7 and the second ejecting means 15 is disposed above the trough 7.

The functions of the first and second ejecting means M and 15 and the trough 7 will be explained in detail hereinafter.

Three conduits 16a are connected to the bottom of the tank 1 in order to withdraw therefrom a portion of the treating liquid. These conduits 16a are connected to the entrance of a pump 18 through a conduit 17. The exit of the pump 18 is connected to the first and second ejecting means 14' and 15 liquid into the conduit 17. The liquid flow through the supplementary conduit 16b is controlled by a valve which effectively controls the stream of the treating liquid in the accumulating zone in order to smoothly move the material.

Referring to FIG. 3, the transferring zone 6 has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional profile and consists of the trough 7 and a curved portion defining a bend 9 which connects the lower end of the trough 7 to the entrance end 10a of the accumulating zone 10. The bottom surface of the trough 7 extends toward the back side of the circulating roll 2 in a straight condition and is inclined at an angle a with respect to a horizontal plane. The angle a is preferably in a range from 10 to 45, more preferably in a range from to 25. The bend 9 is valuable for forming a proper head between the lower end of the trough bottom and the level of treating liquid contained in the accumulating zone 10, whereby the material is smoothly transferred from the trough 7 into the accumulating zone 10.

In FIG. 3, the first ejecting means 14 consists of an ejection pipe 21 disposed at the upper end of the trough bottom and at least one ejecting orifice 22 disposed on the peripheral surface of the pipe 21 so as to downwardly eject the treating liquid along the inclined bottom surface of the trough.

The second ejecting means 15 comprises an ejecting pipe 23 disposed above the trough 7 and at least one ejecting orifice 24 which is disposed on the peripheral surface of the pipe 23 so as to downwardly eject the treating liquid toward the trough bottom.

A rectifying pipe 27 is inserted between the ejecting pipe 21 of the first ejecting means 14 and the circulating means. As seen in FIG. 3, an upstream end of the rectifying pipe 27 is connected with the conduit 28 of the circulating means and a downstream end of the rectifying pipe 27 is connected with the horizontal ejecting pipe 21 at a substantially medium point of the pipe 21 and at a substantially right angle thereto. Thus, the treating liquid fed from the circulating means through the rectifying pipe 27 is uniformly distributed to the right and left portions of the ejecting pipe 21 and uniformly ejected from the ejecting orifice 22 in a direction at a substantially right angle with respect to the ejecting pipe 21 whereby a uniform distribution of the ejected liquid is obtained.

A rectifying pipe 29 of the second ejecting means 15 is inserted between the ejecting pipe 23 and the conduit 30 of the circulating means in the same manner as the first ejecting means 14.

The treating apparatus indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises three treating passages 3 and each passage can be separately charged with an endlessly formed material. However, the apparatus of the present invention is not limited merely to the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 and may comprise one, two or more than three treating passage or passages.

The circulation of the treating liquid in the apparatus of the present invention will now be described in detail. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a portion of the treating liquid 31 is withdrawn from the tank 1 to the outside of the tank through the conduits 16 by operating the pump 18. During the withdrawing operation, the treating liquid in the treating passage 3 is introduced into a space S formed between the bottom 12 of the accumulating zone 10 and tank 1 through the apertures 13 formed on the bottom 12 and then withdrawn from the space S to the 7 outside of the tank 1 through the conduits 16. The withdrawn liquid is passed through the conduit 17, pump 18, conduit 19 and heat exchanger and adjusted to a desired temperature by the heat exchanger 20. The temperature adjusted liquid is then fed from the heat exchanger 20 into the inclined transferring zone 6 through the conduit'21 and the first and second ejecting means and flowed down into the trough 7 and then recycled into the accumulating zone 10 through the bend 9.

The circulation of the textile material in the apparatus of the present invention will be now described in detail.

A long textile material 32 is passed through the treating passage 3 and the circulating roll 2, and both ends of the material are connected to each other in order to form an endless stand of material. When the circulating roll 2 is driven, a portion of the treating liquid 31 is simultaneously circulated in the manner illustrated above. The material 32 is thus drawn up from the accumulating zone 10 through the exit end 11b by the circulating roll 2 and then supplied onto the trough 7 through the upper end opening 8 of the transferring zone 6. At this time, the treating liquid ejected from the first ejecting means 14 flows into the trough 7 and the supplied material 32 is flowed down into the trough 7 by the treating liquid stream in a substantially relaxed condition. During the material flow, the treating liquid ejected from the second ejecting means 15 bombards upper surface of the material 32 in the trough. Therefore, the material 32 is uniformly treated at the upper and lower surfaces thereof by the treating liquid issuing from the first and second ejecting means, and simultaneously, any crease marks or wrinkles on the rope-formed material are eliminated by the opening action of those treating liquid portions. In order to sufficiently open the rope-formed material in the trough 7 and smoothly introduce the material into the accumulating zone 10, it is desirable that the bottom surface of the trough 7 have an elevation angle of 15 to 45, preferably, 15 to 25 with respect to a horizontal plane. If the elevation angle is more than 45, the rope-formed material can not be sufficiently opened in the trough 7 and is consequently subjected to an undesirable extending by the strong stream of the treating liquid. On the other hand, if the elevation angle is less than 15, the material can not be smoothly flowed down along the trough 7 with the attendant disadvantageous result that the material is frequently rolled on the circulating roll and the opening action of the material is insufficient.

The treating liquid portion ejected from the first ejecting means forms a liquid stream flowing down along the inclined trough 7, but not directly touching the lower surface of the material 32. Therefore, the material 32 flows down in the trough 7 while floating on the surface of the treating liquid, whereby the rope-formed material 32 is sufficiently opened under a relaxed condition. If the treating liquid ejected from the first ejecting means 14 directly touches the lower surface of the material 32, tension is applied to the material 32 by the action of the ejected stream and the material can not be sufficiently released from the wrinkles or crease marks.

The opened material is introduced into the accumulating zone 10 through the bend 9 and the entrance end '1 1a. The accumulating zone 10 has a stomach-shaped cross-sectional profile in which the lateral cross-sectional area increases from the entrance end 11a toward the center portion 11c and decreases from the center portion 110 toward the exit end 11b. The material 32 is uniformly treated by the treating liquid as same moves from the entrance end 11a toward the exit end 1 lb through the center portion 11c.

An apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4 has a third ejecting means 25 disposed at the entrance end portion 11a of the accumulating zone 10. The third ejecting means 25 is used for ejecting the treating liquid into the accumulating zone 10 in order to transport the material introduced into the entrance end 11a to the center portion 11c. The apparatus of FIG. 4 has a fourth ejecting means 26 disposed at an upper portion of the center portion 110. The fourth ejecting means 26 is used for downwardly ejecting the treating liquid toward the material accumulated in the center portion 11c in order to prevent the material from an unsmooth transportation due to flotation thereof.

The apparatus of FIG. 4 is valuable for treating relatively thinner fabrics than treated with the apparatus disclosed in FIGS. 1-3.

The material transported through the center portion reaches the exit end 11b and is then circulated to the transferring zone 6 by the circulating roll 2 in the manner illustrated above.

As is clear from the above-illustrated description, the apparatus of the present invention is characterized by being provided with an inclined trough 7 for transferring the material 22 from the circulating roll 2 to the accumulating zone 10 and means for ejecting the treating liquid so as to flow the liquid down along the trough 7, whereby the material can be smoothly transferred without imparting thereto any undesirable tension and wherein the material is sufficiently opened for eliminating wrinkles or crease marks on the rope-formed material. The apparatus of the present invention is further characterized by being provided with an accumulating zone having a stomach-shaped cross-sectional profile whereby the material is uniformly treated with the treating liquid and smoothly transported from the entrance end 110 to the exit end llb. By using the apparatus of the present invention, the textile materials, particularly filamentary fabrics, can be converted into products having excellent uniform features, preferably hand feeling qualities and an excellent dimensional stability.

What we claim is:

1. An apparatus for treating textile materials with a treating liquid comprising:

a tank for containing a treating liquid,

means for circulating a textile material through said tank including a rotatable roll disposed above the normal level of the treating liquid contained in said tank,

means defining at least one passage for treating said textile material disposed within said tank and comprising (a) means defining an accumulating zone for accumulating said textile material and having a stomach-shaped crosssectional profile, a bottom portion having means therein defining numerous apertures providing fluid communication between said accumulating zone and said tank, and an exit end which faces a front side surface of said rotatable roll, and (b) means defining a transfer zone for transferring said textile material from said rotatable roll to said accumulating zone and having an inclined trough having an upper end which faces a back side surface of said cir culating roll and a lower end connected to an entrance end of said accumulating zone,

at least one first means for ejecting said treating liquid along a bottom surface of said trough and being disposed at an upper end of said trough,

at least one second means for ejecting said treating liquid toward said trough and being disposed above said trough, and

at least one treating liquid circulating means for circulating said treating liquid from said tank to said first and second ejecting means.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim ll, wherein a bottom surface of said trough is disposed at an angle of elevation with respect to a horizontal plane of 15 to 45.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said angle or elevation is 15 to 25.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim ll, further comprising at least one third ejecting means disposed at said entrance end portion for ejecting said treating liquid into said accumulating zone.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4i, wherein said third ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim ll, further comprising at least one fourth ejecting means disposed at an upper portion of said accumulating zone for downwardly ejecting said treating liquid into said accumulating zone.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said fourth ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, mcludmg another pipe interconnecting said ejecting pipe to said treating liquid circulating means and being connected at substantially a right angle to and at substantially a medium point of said ejecting pipe.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.

ll. An apparatus as claimed in claim 110, including another pipe interconnecting said ejecting pipe to said treating liquid circulating means and being connected at substantially a right angle to and at substantially a medium point of said ejecting pipe.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transfer zone further comprises a curved portion extending between said trough and said entrance end of said accumulating zone. 

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a bottom surface of said trough is disposed at an angle of elevation with respect to a horizontal plane of 15* to 45*.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said angle or elevation is 15* to 25*.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one third ejecting means disposed at said entrance end portion for ejecting said treating liquid into said accumulating zone.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said third ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one fourth ejecting means disposed at an upper portion of said accumulating zone for downwardly ejecting said treating liquid into said accumulating zone.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said fourth ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.
 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, including another pipe interconnecting said ejecting pipe to said treating liquid circulating means and being connected at substantially a right angle to and at substantially a medium point of said ejecting pipe.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second ejecting means comprises an ejecting pipe connected to said treating liquid circulating means and means defining at least one ejecting orifice disposed on a peripheral surface of said conduit.
 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, including another pipe interconnecting said ejecting pipe to said treating liquid circulating means and being connected at substantially a right angle to and at substantially a medium point of said ejecting pipe.
 12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transfer zone further comprises a curved portion extending between said trough and said entrance end of said accumulating zone. 